This gem of a video depicts the life of a scaffolder in the 1950s perfectly. Working from one scaffold board 200ft above the Thames, scaffolders erect structures around Tower Bridge in London for stonemasons to make vital repairs after WW II.
The video by Britsh Pathe allows us to see just how far our industry has come in the respect of industry innervations and the health and safety of workers today.
Supported by the Association for Project Safety (APS), Hire Association Europe (HAE) and the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM), Working at height: Access for life will focus on the latest trends and developments in a sector which experienced 40 fatalities in 2018/19 according to the latest figures released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
From designing for access and the role of virtual reality to mental health awareness and managing risk, the conference will address a wide range of issues, including the response to the report of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Working at Height published earlier this year.
According to Chris Kendall, chair of the AIF conference committee, the event will bring together an exceptional line-up of expert speakers who will talk about the topics set to shape the future of working at height and height safety in particular. “This is the only conference dedicated exclusively to access and safety and, as such, will make a unique contribution to best practice and keeping people safe.
With an introduction from Peter Bennett OBE, chair of the AIF, speakers include: Sarah Jardine, Head of Construction Division, HSE; Gordon Maddan, Assistant Director, Office for Product Safety and Standards; Steffan Groch, Chair, Health and Safety Lawyers’ Association; Dr Karen McDonnell, Policy Advisor, RoSPA and Chris Debrick, Project Manager, Transport for London.
The conference will feature a panel discussion with Jason Anker MBE, Paul Blanchard and Dylan Skelhorn, ambassadors for the No Falls Foundation charity. They will discuss their personal experiences following falls from height and the impact on their respective families, friends and colleagues.
AIF members ATLAS, BSIF, EPF, FASET, IPAF, IRATA, Ladder Association, NASC, PASMA, SAEMA and WAHSA will be represented in the associated working at height exhibition, together with other organisations working in the sector.
The Working at Height: Access for life conference website is now live. For more information, or to book, go to www.accessindustryforum.org.uk/conference Early bird discounts are available.
The first phase of the order, valued at £1.4million, was supplied to Enigma during May and June, with the remaining £600k to be delivered in July and August, according to project timelines.
The move comes after a significant multi-million-pound investment from Enigma in March 2019, where the business took on more than 2,500t of scaffolding equipment, including Mk2 Stair Towers, Universal scaffolding equipment and loading bays – making Enigma the largest stockholder of HAKI Universal in the UK.
The latest investment was delivered through collaborative working between Enigma’s Procurement and Asset Management Director, Alan Scott, and HAKI’s new International Sales Director, David Probert, and is further demonstration of both organisations’ commitment to driving innovative practices in safe working across all sectors.
“These are very exciting times for Enigma,” said Alan Scott. “As we look to the future, our investment programme supports our growth and commitment to our clients, in maintaining our position as an industry leader in the provision of scaffolding services.”
David Probert also commented: “HAKI is proud of the relationship we have established with Enigma and that we are very much seen as a trusted partner. This latest investment is testament to the commitment by both companies to improve levels of efficiency, productivity and work at height safety across industrial services and construction market sectors.”
Enigma has been providing scaffolding and access services to the industrial, construction, power and infrastructure sectors for more than 50 years. As one of the most experienced and largest stockholders of scaffolding equipment in the country, clients continue to rely on the company’s access division to fulfil their project requirements with high-standard and safety-focused solutions.
Project 7’s track record of finding solutions to tricky construction problems came into play as the biggest multi-sport venue in Europe was turned into a setting fit to host the legendary Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees teams.
The company was appointed as a trade contractor to the principal contractor Gardiner and Theobold and took responsibility for many of the unusual problems that were thrown up changing the stadium from its football mode to become a baseball park.
One of the key requirements for Project 7 was ensuring that the existing Olympic running track, stadium seating and drainage was not damaged by the infrastructure required by Major League Baseball’s (MLB) first-ever event in Europe. At the same time, the specialist construction firm had to make sure that its solutions were up to MLB’s high standards.
Ty Robinson, Managing Director of Project 7, said: “We love coming up with solutions to challenging problems.”
“One major problem was how to securely erect the padded fences without damaging the football pitch or the multi-million pound running track but still ensuring they were able to safely take the impact of the players, who are huge, strong athletes. In the US ballparks, these fences would be secured deep into the ground where they sit – not an option for London Stadium.
“Our solution was to create scaffolding that was independently secured with large, heavy concrete blocks that didn’t damage the surface below but could be fitted with the padded fencing and take a hit from one of the baseball guys without moving.
“Another problem to solve was how to install a blackout screen which sits behind the pitcher’s arm to allow the batters to see the white ball clearly. That area is known as the “Batters Eye” and is crucial for the batters to identify the balls coming at them at varying speeds up to 100mph.
“With all the seating in the way we needed something that would sit at an angle but wouldn’t create any glare or reflection. In the end, black serge wool drapes were used, which is traditionally used on film and TV sets to help with blackout and acoustics. We stretched this across timber panels secured on a scaffolding frame within the seats, which remained hidden from view and undamaged.”
Project 7 has built up a good reputation for complex logistical projects under very tight timescales and has previously transformed the London Stadium into a music venue to host top artists; rearranging the seating within 72 hours to successfully meet incredibly tight deadlines.
It also hit the headlines earlier this year for its specialist work on revamping London’s Hippodrome Casino to allow the venue to host Channing Tatum’s hit dance show, Magic Mike Live. This major project had to be carried out without disturbing the casino’s clients who have access to the venue 24 hours a day.
The ability to work to tight deadlines and oversee logistics was key to the MLB project as the transformation had to be completed within three weeks and derigged in only 5 days working shift patterns 24/7. Project 7 took on responsibility for site logistics which included coordinating the movement of more than 150 truck movements a day in the stadium bowl.
The company also built all the broadcast and commentary positions for the TV and radio broadcasters, fit-out and installed the 80 ft wide team dugouts, fit out the bullpens where the pitchers warm-up, and erect the 60 ft tall yellowfins that are called foul poles and weigh more than two tons each.
Mr Robinson said: “We obviously have experience of working in a stadium, but this is the first time we have helped to help create a baseball park.
“MLB Invited us to visit Monterey in Mexico to watch their International Game there between the Cincinnati Reds and the St Louis Cardinals to help with the huge learning curve to ensure that the Mitel London Series was built and delivered in Major League baseball style.
“It was a great experience and MLB were excellent clients to work with.”
“We are already looking at lessons learned from this event to see how we can improve the delivery when the series returns to the London Stadium next year and hosts the Chicago Cubs and St Louis Cardinals.”
The firm has seen much growth after opening its Birmingham operating centre last year, bringing the total number of offices to 3 with Banbury and Cheltenham being the longer
established.
Despite its name, MG has long been active in Birmingham and the Midlands area carrying out many high profile projects in and around the city. Established in 2002, MG has one of the largest stocks of scaffold equipment owned by an independent scaffolding contractor, and over 100 CISRS trained operatives distributed between its 3 branches MG is able to offer any access solution to any size of project over a wide area.
A spokesperson for MG said: “The appointment of Martin Pritchard as our Midlands Area Manager, with 26 years experience and his focus on customer service have seen MG successfully execute many high-profile scaffolding schemes for repeat customers such as Morgan Sindall, Balfour Beatty, Bouygues UK, Torsion Group and many others.”
MG is consequently looking forward to enjoying its best year ever with turnover set to exceed £10M this year.
The statistics show that a total of 147 workers were killed at work in Great Britain in 2018/2019, a rise of 6 fatalities from 2017/2018. 40 persons suffered a fatal injury as a result of a fall from height, making this the single biggest cause of workplace fatal injuries in Great Britain. This represents an increase from 2017/2018, when 35 workers died due to a fall from height.
These statistics come after the publication of the APPG’s first report in February this year, ‘Staying Alive: Preventing Serious Injury and Fatalities while Working at Height’. The report made several recommendations including the introduction of enhanced reporting, the appointment of an independent body and an equivalent system to Scotland’s Fatal Accident Inquiry process.
Speaking about the statistics, Chair of the APPG and MP for Glasgow Central, Alison Thewliss said:
“These statistics show that this issue is not going away. It is imperative that the Government takes forward the recommendations made in our report which have been devised with input from industry and key stakeholders.
We have already had a positive response from Government and the HSE but time is of the essence when it comes to safety in the workplace, and we need to ensure these actions are taken forward as quickly as possible.”
The Group is sponsored by the Access Industry Forum (AIF), a group of 11 trade associations and federations covering working at height. Commenting on behalf of the AIF, PASMA’s Managing Director, Peter Bennett OBE said:
“Whilst we welcome that the UK continues to consistently have one of the lowest rates of fatal injury across the EU, the figures released today are still too high. There should be absolutely no question or doubt over workers’ ability to return home safely to their families every evening.
We know that data collected does not accurately represent the true scale of ‘near misses’ in the workplace which is why we are calling for enhanced reporting methods, and an independent body who would confidentially collect data to inform industry and Government.”
SMART Scaffolder’s award-winning SMART Inspector mobile app has now been used to improve the safety and efficiency of more than 365,000 weekly scaffold inspections. The latest release includes a new report in the desktop web console giving managers a view of the most common failures which can be filtered to show them by site, by customer and even across the entire business.
It is a legal requirement of the Work At Height Regulations 2005 to conduct weekly scaffolding inspections and the SMART Inspector app does away with the often inefficient, time-consuming and flawed paper record systems, which are also prone to human error, which can lead to un-inspected, unsafe scaffolds. The fully auditable reports available via a desktop web console give managers an unprecedented view of what’s happening across all their project sites.
The latest 2019 Safety Report by the National Access and Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) revealed a shocking 27% increase in the number of accidents and injuries among its 200+ scaffolding members (16,645 scaffolders) in 2018. The report shows that the most common cause of accidents and injuries were ‘slips, trips and falls on the same level’ – representing more than 43% of all accidents reported.
A review of anonymous feedback gathered from across all of SMART Inspector’s users backs this up – with obstructions (50%), debris (14%) and board condition (10%) being the most common faults reported. Additionally, guard-rails and toe-boards were often either missing or incorrectly placed/secured (4%). And other common faults were materials stacked above toe-boards, damaged cladding, missing ties, undermined foundations and missing ladders.
But scaffolders using the SMART Inspector mobile app have seen the safety of their sites and scaffolds improve dramatically – thanks to the integrity and traceability of the crucial weekly inspection process. The new top defects report has highlighted where extra training may be required and also exposed where trades have been repeatedly removing toe-boards, ties, boards, etc.
Robert Ramsay of leading UK scaffolding contractors, Enigma Industrial Services said: “The Inspection app has been a revelation for us, in terms of safety, efficiency and sharing data with our clients. A lot of our work is industrial, where there are great number of obstacles like pipework to avoid during the scaffold process. These can be a major cause of the biggest contributor to accidents in our sector – slips, trips and falls. But the quality and accuracy of the SMART Inspector app massively reduces the exposure to these risks, thanks to an improved inspection process and clearer, simpler reporting of scaffold faults using technology and images.”
And Shane Watson of Amphibian Scaffolding agrees, saying: “Working in both the commercial and house building sectors we have found SMART Inspector invaluable in highlighting reoccurring problems on particular sites, meaning that we are able to identify where boards and ties are being regularly removed by trades and where scaffolds are left in a mess with potential trip hazards.”
SMART Inspector was initially developed in partnership with Lyndon Scaffolding, and Lyndon SGB MD, Rob Lynch added: “We are more than happy with the SMART Inspector app, which has not only improved the quality of our reports but also transformed the efficiency, leading to better and safer scaffolds.”
Reflecting on the feedback Ian Chambers, Sales and Marketing Director at SMART Scaffolder, said: “It’s undeniable that our software is having a profoundly positive influence on the safety of scaffolds right across the country, through radically improved inspection quality and the online reporting of faults.
“The latest NASC Safety Report shows a depressing year-on-year rise in the number of accidents – mainly down to slips, trips and falls potentially caused primarily by faults which should have been spotted and fixed in the weekly inspections. But things are clearly being missed, or inspections skipped entirely, leading to avoidable accident and in some cases, life changing injury.
“Why take the risk to people’s lives when there’s a market leading product out there – in our SMART Inspector app – to help eliminate issues relating to the weekly inspection process?”
“We are thrilled so many other good quality outfits are getting on board with paperless, more accurate inspections using our software. All of this is changing our industry for the better, leading to keen interest from many main contractors, housebuilders and the Health & Safety fraternity as a whole, which can only be a good thing.”
Find out more at www.smartscaffolder.com
The Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) has recently announced plans to
phase out issuing cards under Industry Accreditation or ‘Grandfather Rights’.
The decision was been made to ensure all CSCS card applicants can demonstrate the achievement of a nationally-recognised construction-related qualification –
either NVQ/SVQ or as a minimum registration to a vocational qualification (VQ) by
2024.
In a press release, CISRS has said that the CSCS proposal will have very little impact on CISRS cardholders as those who hold current valid Scaffolder/Advanced cards but have not completed VQ (as it was not a requirement at the time of qualification into the scheme) will not be required to complete the qualification retrospectively.
CISRS withdrew Industry Accreditation over 30 years ago. NVQ/SVQ was introduced
to the CISRS Scheme in 1996. All those commencing training after this date have
been required to complete a VQ. This would apply for those who achieved through Assessed Route of Entry as a VQ was already a requirement.
The press release continues to read, The National Occupational Standard (NOS), which makes up the units of the VQ is based upon the practical and theoretical content of CISRS Scheme Part 1 and Part 2 for Level 2 VQ e.g. Health and Safety, Independents, Birdcage, Tower scaffolds etc and Advanced course content for Level 3 e.g. Organising of Equipment, Health and Safety, Suspended Scaffolds, Temporary roofs etc.
The course content has remained fairly stable since the formal introduction of the scheme in 1979, as such those who completed training prior to the introduction of a VQ have already covered the content of the NOS.
The introduction of CPD for scaffolders has also allowed the scheme to be viewed
favourably as it can ensure that its workforce is kept up to date with the most recent
guidance and regulation.
Read the full CISRS press release here.
Peri products have been available in Ireland for 18 years from an external agent, but the firm has said on its website that by establishing a base in west Dublin, they will be able to work directly with customers and can offer a higher level of service.
By establishing a business in Ireland, PERI has said they can meet the ever-growing needs of its customers in Ireland through its extensive product range, technical expertise and project support services. Its Customers will have access to the high-quality product range it always has, but this will be enhanced with the latest products and support services, such as 3D design, the DUO polymer lightweight formwork system, and the latest MAXIMO wall panel system.
Colm McHugh, Peri Ireland’s Managing Director, said: “We are very excited to be able to offer directly to customers in Ireland our full range of products and services. Investing in a new facility in Ireland will enable us to build strong partnerships with our customers and create employment opportunities in the local economy.
PERI products have been proven the world over, allowing customers to work more safely, efficiently and reduce overall costs on their construction projects. We are sure that the construction sector in Ireland will also be able to enjoy the same benefits”.
Working on height safety certainly hasn’t been a tall order for proud Glaswegian and Managing Director of the Prefabricated Access Suppliers & Manufacturers Association, Peter Bennett. In fact, it was a small case of bending slightly, as he prepared to receive an Order Of The British Empire medal for contributions to the access and work at height sector. And naturally, the highly regarded and modest 59-year-old was more than happy to be invested by HM the Queen at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, in early July.
Dedicated work
This marked the apex of Peter’s lifelong career in the work at height sector, and many in the industry believe it was thoroughly deserved. After studying at the University of Glasgow, he joined the Glasgow office of national scaffolding company Stephens & Carter in 1983, before moving to Turner Access. During this time, he was an active Council member and latterly Chair of PASMA, also serving as a Council member, Training Committee Chairman and President of IPAF, the International Powered Access Federation
It was the beginning of Peter’s passion for improving safety for those who work at height – often without realising it – in many different sectors across the UK and internationally.
His drive upwards pushed this innovator to where he is today, leading three not-for-profit membership associations which all share a common purpose – making it safer for people to work at height. Safety standards, regulation and workplace culture have improved hugely over the years to protect workers and as a leading expert and champion for progress, Peter has consistently been at the forefront of change.
Leading Standard Change
PASMA, is the only organisation in the world dedicated to advancing safety, standards and best practice in the mobile access tower industry. When Peter first took on the role in 2006, he ran the organisation from his garage at home with the help of his first employee, Karen O’Neill. Under his leadership, PASMA now has a presence in 11 countries worldwide. More than 350 members and almost 75,000 people take its training courses on the safe use of towers every year. And Karen is now part of a 22-strong secretariat!
In 2007 Peter was appointed Executive Director of The Ladder Association, recently named Business of the Year 2019 by the Office for Product Safety and Standards. This followed a successful campaign encouraging people to ‘get a grip’ on ladder safety.
He’s also Chair of the Access Industry Forum or AIF, bringing together the principal trade associations involved in work at height to foster codes of good practice, equipment standards, training, education and knowledge. He serves on several national and international standards-setting committees, sitting on various advisory groups at the Health and Safety Executive. What’s more Peter contributes to the work of the Better Regulation Panel at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy or BEIS.
Safety Always Paramount
On average 36 people die every year and thousands more are injured following a fall from height at work, according to figures released by the Health and Safety Executive. With all this in mind he told us: “If you work at height, I want you to go home safely at the end of the day. From speaking to survivors of a fall from height, I know that the consequences are often life-changing and affect not just the victim but also their family, friends and colleagues. It’s so important that we continually strive to improve our understanding of why falls happen and strengthen the measures that keep people safe. I’m fortunate to be surrounded by knowledgeable, dedicated colleagues – both in my own organisations and in the wider work at height community – who share my passion. I want to use this occasion to raise awareness of the work that they do and to share one message: if you work at height, or are responsible for those who do, please, please take safety seriously.”
Westminster Working Group
It’s important to remember Peter was instrumental in the creation of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Work at Height in 2017, chaired by Alison Thewliss MP, which is pushing for improved regulation to prevent serious injuries and fatalities. He is also a founding trustee of the No Falls Foundation, the only charity dedicated to preventing falls from height and helping people affected by the consequences of a fall.